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The 10 Questions Approach to Search

When you look at the way in which online search has changed over the past 10 years, it’s natural to be somewhat perplexed.
Even as recently as five years ago when Google rolled out its Penguin algorithm update, the web as we had come to know it was largely turned on its head. Over just a single week, so many businesses all over the world either plummeted or dropped off the rankings completely.


Since then, not only have there been enormous changes to Google’s SERP algorithms, but the way the consumer public approaches search in general has also changed radically. Which on the surface appears to make everything incredibly complicated and difficult to deal with. Nevertheless, we came across a recent theory with regard to how contemporary SEO should be handled, which does a pretty good job simplifying exactly what you need to do as a business.


First of all, it’s no secret that mobile is slowly but surely taking over as the primary or even exclusive web-access medium worldwide. And in terms of the way this new generation of web users carries out web searches, they are stepping away from keywords and focusing more on questions.
Which really does make sense – given the way in which we use search engines to provide answers to our questions and/or problems.


"Mobile search now amounts to more than half of all Google searches, and of those, 20% to 25% are voice," says Barry Schwartz, head of web marketing firm RustyBrick.


"Those are usually longer queries, such as 'How do I do X-Y-Z?' Your site has to have content that answers those kinds of questions,"
"You need to identify the top 10 questions that your customers ask and have a page that answers each of them,"
"You must answer each of them clearly and concisely."


This is a particularly interesting and valid theory, not to mention the basis of an excellent strategy for any SEO campaign. If customers are going online and asking questions about anything relevant to your business, all you technically need to do is answer them better than anyone else. Which of course means first establishing what it is your customers are asking, after which the advice is to target each answer with an entire individual page.


For years now, Google has been continually reminding the whole world that its only focus and priority is that of providing the average web user with the most accurate, useful and beneficial results/recommendations in its SERP rankings.  It is also made no secret of the fact that it owes nothing to nobody – it’s a business just like any other.


So once again, the message is clearly one that spells out the importance of responding to changing consumer behaviour, in order to remain relevant in SEO stakes. Find out what kinds of questions they’re asking, ascertain how these questions are being answered by your rivals and do whatever it takes to answer them better.


SEO as a whole may be complicated, but this is actually just about the simplest strategy you could ever hope for.